You knew "Happy Days" was over when Fonzie jumped a shark on water skis. The writers were clearly so bereft of fresh ideas that everyone knew the game was up.

On Friday, when President Obama brought Bill Clinton in to finish his press conference for him, and then walked off the mound, leaving the room altogether, you knew in that moment that his presidency was over. We watched something historic Friday, something we have never seen before and are unlikely ever to see again.

It is unprecedented, in my knowledge, for a sitting president to walk out of his own press conference and leave the heavy lifting to a former resident of the Oval Office. It is stunning to an inordinate degree. It is the kind of thing no president would even think of doing unless he had lost all sense of awareness, orientation and perspective. Obama now is flailing about like Marlon Brando among the bean poles. We are watching the death throes of an American presidency.

What we witnessed as we watched Bill Clinton wax eloquent for an hour after the president had hit the showers was the first speech of Hillary Clinton's 2012 campaign. Time, they will say, to bring back the Democrats who have some idea what they're doing.

Yesterday's press conference was the equivalent of a starting pitcher calling for the bullpen in the middle of the second inning, admitting he's finished, has no pop on the fastball and no snap on the curve, and taking himself out of the game. He's gone, he's toast, he's history, he's got nothing to look forward but a hot shower and a post-game buffet.

We have never witnessed the implosion of a presidency of this magnitude, ever. Nixon was brought down by scandal. Obama is bringing himself down through sheer incompetence.

People will be waxing nostalgic for the salad days of Jimmy Carter before he's through.

The Congressional Black Caucus has turned on him — the Congressional Black Caucus turning its back on the first African-American president in history! -, the Democrats in Congress are freely lobbing F-bombs in his direction (where is all this respect for the presidency we heard about ad nauseum in connection with the Joe Wilson outburst?), and the out-of-the-mainstream media are chewing their fingers down to the middle knuckle.

And we are less than half way through this ride. Every day we read about folks who regret their vote for Obama and their donations to his campaign. People want off, they want their money back, but nobody can climb down from this thing for two more very long years. He's going down, and taking us all with him.

Obama is over his head, has no clue about what to do, and now everybody in the world, including our enemies, knows it.

The nearest analogy to what we are watching before our very eyes is the explosion of the Challenger. The difference is that the astronauts did not walk away from that one. Barack Obama will walk away from the national disaster he is creating, but the nation might not.

As the Challenger soared into the heavens, so Obama took flight, powered by the enthusiasm of the adoring masses who fell for his empty promises and vacuous oratory. But as the Challenger blew up before attaining altitude and orbit, so President Obama has flamed out in spectacular fashion. All that's left now is for the American people to pick up the debris, debris scattered everywhere.

It might be better to say that he and his presidency are not so much exploding as imploding before our very eyes. He is shrinking daily, caving in on himself like a black hole which sucks every living thing into its maw and from which nothing, including light, can escape. It's nothing more than dark, impenetrable nothingness.

This is like watching a slow-motion train wreck. You cannot, try as you might, avert your eyes even though you know you'll clap your hand over your own mouth in utter astonishment before the last train has left the tracks in a ball of flame.

In Denzel Washington's new movie, "Unstoppable," he finds a way to stop a runaway train and save the day. For the good of the country, we need every social and fiscal conservative to emulate Denzel's heroics starting right now. Only we need it not in the make-believe world of Hollywood but in the real world of Washington, D.C.

(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)

Bryan Fischer

Bryan Fischer is the host of the daily 'Focal Point' radio talk program on AFR Talk, a division of the American Family Association. 'Focal Point' airs live from 1-3 pm Central Time, and is also simulcast on the AFA Channel, which can be seen on the Sky Angel network.